JOURNALISM IN THE AMERICAS Blog

During a session of the Peruvian Congress, the website for the newspaper Perú21 “was unexpectedly restricted" from all the computers in the congressional reporters' chamber, reported the Press and Society Institute. The organization considered this an attack against freedom of expression as the newspaper has published critiques of the current Congress administration.

According to Perú21, the restriction message read: "The page or web resource that you are trying to access has been restricted by institutional policy (...) you are accessing a non-authorized page." Congressman Yonhy Lescano said, “We are no longer in the times of the Velasco military dictatorship or in the Fujimori regime where freedom of expression or access to information was restricted,” added Perú21.

During the restriction, president of Congress Daniel Abugattás criticized the editors of Peru21, along with newspapers Correo and Expreso, for their investigations and criticisms about budget management and the building of a recreation center for Congress at the Punta Negra resort, reported Perú21.